I am sooo sooo sorry of how long this update has taken! I completely forgot to update when I was done writing chapter 11... I believe Windgirl soon is finished with her chapter and I promise you it will be a bit creepy and maybe one of the best thing you have read.
I am saying it again, if I couldn't see how many that is reading and just basing it on the reviews I would have quit months ago...
Rose's POV
I'm falling, I know that. Funny the things you pick up on when you have no control over your body. It seems to be going in slow motion though, I can hear Oscar beside me and Jake behind. As soon as my head made contact with the floor though, it was like there was no sound at all, a void between my ear drums, just the sound of my blood rushing around my head. It hurt but somehow hitting it on the floor wasn't painful at all... I could see Oscar mouthing. Mouthing 'stay with me'. I loved him. I'd have to tell him that one day. Not today though... I'm just really tired... So, so tired...
1 day earlier - Tom's POV
It's been roughly twenty seconds since Oscar went offline with his makeshift communicator. I'm surprised the thing lasted that long and also slightly envious of Oscars skills but that doesn't matter at the moment. That was the only form of communication they had, regardless of how rubbish it was and now it's gone and we're left in the dark again. Stella's sitting in the far right corner of the room looking at information on SKUL but I dare not tell her yet... She'd flip that's for sure... I might alert Frank first but he's at MI9 HQ trying to get any other information he can, hopefully without letting anyone into the fact that our whole team is MIA. I'm making this sound worse than it is... Surly..?
"Tom?! Where has the communication line gone?!"
Ahhh, Stella. Y'know what this might go worse than I intended it to...
Xoxo
23 hours earlier - Frank's POV
If the MI9 firewall wasn't hard enough, avoiding Stark is. The man as been pestering me since I got here which is well over an hour ago and he won't leave me alone. File this! File that! If only he could file himself but I can't tell him to shove a filing cabinet up his backside of he'll know something is up. And I can't tell him. Because not only would we be a laughing stock but then he'd have a real reason to shut our department up. And he would take that in a heartbeat. So for now I'll have to put up with him...
God help me with that one then.
"Frank are you even listening?!"
"What?" I ask, looking up to see the devil of a man staring intently at me.
"Thought not. I was just saying how a very important mission is coming up involving intel on SKUL and I think it would be best if your agents were kept well clear of it," he said annoyed already.
"You always think that we should keep well clear of it," I replied tiredly.
"And for good reason!" Stark snapped back.
"For no reason," I cut him off.
"Oh I have reasons! But, I won't bore you with them," Stark said as I smirked, knowing full well he had nothing. "What are you doing here anyway?" he asked changing the conversation.
"Collecting files, looking for things, trying to avoid you," I said blatantly.
"Shouldn't you be babysitting? What with seven of them now?" Stark replied, looking down at me, instead of at me. That annoyed me. More than it probably should.
"Stella's over there at the moment but they can handle themselves anyway," I said, my fists fighting the urge to curl up and punch him straight in the gob.
"Do I make you annoyed with the truth?" Stark hissed as I turned.
"Don't you have somewhere to be?" I snapped.
"No," came the smug answer.
"Guess MI9 sent you over here so I can babysit you," I replied as his face drew cold.
"No! Not at all, I was checking up on you," he said hastily.
"Well it does seem as if MI9 don't need you-"
"Of corse they do I was just-!" Stark protested as I backed him slowly to the open door.
"Just?"
"Urugh!"
"I think we'll call that 'check' over," I said as he stepped out of the threshold of my office.
"Frank I'll-!"
"Goodbye Stark," I finished, slamming the door in his face. He knocked and tried the door about five times before seeming to give up. Probably to rattle to MI9 but I could cope with that. I didn't even care. Because I'd realised why his taunts were getting to me so much.
They were true. We'd lost the team and they were only children...
Was Stark right?..
Xoxo
22 hours earlier - Stella's POV
It's been two hours since we lost contact with Oscar and the others and there's been no hope in tracing the communication. I'm not surprised in the slightest but it's a blow. And that's the understatement of the year.
"We have to stop now," Tom suddenly said after sending the traces of signal through yet another system. I nodded, admitting defeat. "Oscar said SKUL will trace the signal, so at least we know that they must be in some sort of SKUL base,"
"Unfortunately we can't. They could be communication from anyway with SKUL," I sighed.
"But Oscar said that they could trace it so they must have technology," Tom reasoned.
"That narrows it down," I agreed. "Get started on that, I'm going to try and find a new way of tracing the signal," I said, sitting down at the nearby computer. Out of the corner of my eye caught Tom looking at me. He'd probably never seen me at a computer since I'd mentored them. "Yes Tom, I can touch type as well," I said sarcastically as he nodded smirking.
"A hundred and twenty words a minuet," he causally slipped in.
"A hundred and thirty," I replied smugly.
"Two hundred," he said before we both started giggling. Weather it was out of enjoyment or fear I don't know but it felt good to laugh.
Xoxo
21 hours earlier - Frank's POV
I arrived back at about ten to find both Tom and Stella hard at work in front of the computer screens. Their communications were left lying beside Flopsy so they weren't talking to Oscar... I couldn't tell if that was a good or a bad thing but the closer I got the more I realised.
Bad thing.
"We lost them Frank, again," Stella said turning round. "And we're having no luck here..."
"I didn't even get a status report before you ask," Tom cut in as I began to open my mouth.
"Does that mean..?" I asked as Stella sighed deeply, running her head through her hands.
"Frank if we send a SWAT team then information will leak and we can't let that happen," she reasoned.
"True but we also can't leave the team," Frank urged.
"I know, I know!" Stella groaned as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Dosent matter at the moment anyway," she suddenly said tiredly. "Because we haven't found a location,"
"Ok, that makes it easier to make a decision... How did Oscar sound?" I asked knowing that Stella was still held back on maybe having to call a SWAT team, which would not only be bad for MI9 but in Stella's case it would also be admitting defeat.
"I don't know, Tom talked to him," she replied, thinking hard.
"Yes! Yes! Yes, yes, yes!" Tom suddenly yelled, turning the screen towards us. "Exact locations derived from Oscars communicator!"
"Brilliant(!)" Stella snapped as I sighed.
"Stella we-" I began.
"I know Frank, I know what we have to do and I know this means that 'lives will be saved' but do you know what, for once I wish it wasn't my neck on the line," she replied annoyed, standing up.
"This is a good thing?" Tom said, utterly confused. He hadn't been paying attention that was for sure.
"No Tom. No it's not," Stella hissed bluntly before walking to the other side of the base.
"Oh do you know what! Three hours, she's been pestering me to get this! Three hours! And now! Now I have the thing she wants she doesn't want it!" Tom said to no one in particular. "PMS..." he muttered under his breath before turning back to the screen.
Xoxo
20 hours earlier - Tom's POV
"Ok," Stella started as she brought the location up on the screen. "Options,"
She'd calmed down since her, whatever-the-hell-went-on-there-probarbly-something-womanly-hissy fit and was back to being in charge trying to find ways of getting the team back so the least amount of people realised what happened. It's not that we were ashamed, we just made a mistake and now it had to be up to us to fix it.
"We don't have any options," I said. "We have to send a SWAT team! We have to get them out!"
"Tom if we let this get out to the wrong person in MI9 then this department could be shut down and you'd go back to your ordinary life," Stella snapped.
"We have to keep this hushed," Frank explained. "I agree though Stella, we don't have much choice,"
"Ok... But if we have to get a SWAT team then we could at least try and keep it quiet, choose people we trust, we have friends who'd do it," Stella said. "The base isn't far from here, a couple of miles at least?"
"Getting a team takes time though," Frank sighed.
"And we don't have time, we don't know what's happening out there!" I cried.
"I have a feeling everyone's against me at the moment," Stella muttered. "I want to get the team back just as much as you do of corse I do! But MI9 rushing in might not work,"
"Nor did sending two agents," I pointed out.
"Two agents with no gadgets, back up or comms," Stella replied.
"I was on comms!" I protested.
"You were playing Blade Quest and making sure we didn't come close," Stella was quick to really before as I shut up.
"Yes but that proves another point," Frank suddenly said. "The team tried to keep it a secret from us and two agents were lost. We can't keep this from MI9 if it means lives will be lost surely?"
"No but what I'm saying is that if they have Rose's twin or if indeed they have them then MI9 coming through, guns and blazes could risk their lives even further," Stella finished as we all retreated into silence. None of us had the faintest idea of what to do. We all knew what we wanted to do but there would always be a reason why it wouldn't work... Stella's phone suddenly went off and she went to the other side of the base to answer it as Frank turned to me, looking at his watch.
"Go home Tom, it's nearly midnight," he said as I sighed. "We don't need you here at the moment and I promise you'll be the first to know if anything happens," he finally won me over as I nodded and stood up, collecting my stuff. I was extremely tired and it wasn't helping my patience levels anyway.
I just didn't know how much sleep I'd get knowing what was going on...
Just then Stella came over and I immediately knew something was wrong, her face pale and eyes clouded.
"The Head of MI9 knows what's happened," she whispered as the moral fell among us.
This couldn't get any worse...
Xoxo
3 hours earlier - Stella's POV
I've been at MI9 HQ all night, with very little sleep on my side and now I was arguing my side of things with the Head of MI9. Again. God knows how she'd found out about Mi High's 'disappearance' but she was now furious.
"But ma'am-" I tried again as she cut me off once more.
"No Chief Agent Knight, this is one of your devisions and you don't even know where the the hell they are and apart from the fact that they're children, this could be a major security breach!"
"Ma'am they would never reveal any secrets!" I cried in injustice.
"And what about if they're being tortured? Or threatened? Or worse?" comes the agitated and thoughouly pissed off reply.
"Ma'am!" I protested. I'd never wanted to think about it as a possibility but it was always in the back of my mind. What if it was true..? I'd never be able to live with myself. Not again...
"Tonight. I want your team standing before me by tonight or you're suspended," she snapped as I nodded. "And the future of your team looks extremely weak," she hissed, finishing our 'chat' and looking down at her paperwork as I opened the door and walked out, my eyes burning.
This was getting too close...
Xoxo
2 hours earlier - Tom's POV
I woke up, looking at my bedside clock which read ten o'clock. Frank had still sent me home, despite the news and I'd been asleep for quite a long while considering what was happening... I'd dreamt the night away though meaning I was still exhausted now. I'd have to get up though but to wake myself up I grabbed the computer from my left, opening the screen and opening the internet, hacking into some security cameras. I'd been trying to find the nearest camera to the SKUL base yesterday but I'd gone home before if had a chance to finish. I doubt it would tell me anything but it was worth a go. I was only about a mile away from the co-ordinates, hacking street by street. The cameras were quite obscure around here though because of a massive clump of woods with a small smoke trail coming from the top.
Zooming in, I focused on where the smoke was coming from, realising there was a small makeshift campsite around it. And six figures...
Xoxo
1 hour earlier - Frank's POV
Running down the corridors clutching the phone in my hand, out of breath but beaming as I burst into the room where Stella was prepping a SWAT team.
"Stella," I gasped as she looked at me with confusion.
"Tom has found them," I finished as her eyes widened with joy.
Xoxo
"They seem to be heading towards the school from what Tom could make out," I explained as the two of us walked briskly across the building.
"It would be the one safe place they know," Stella agreed as we carried on, pushing though double door after double door. "Anything else?"
"Err, yes, Dan seemed to be carrying Zoe and Oscar, Rose. I can only gather from that, that the two agents are in someway injured," I replied quickly as Stella nodded.
"Two agents. Let's take that as a blessing," she said regretfully and she was right of course.
We reached a lift as Stella pressed the button to go up. I stopped her though, just before she got in.
"Stella, you go back to the school, I'll inform the Head of MI9. They'll need you," I said as Stella looked at the open lift and then at the door nodding.
"Ok, but come as soon as you can, we may need medical assistance or backup," she agreed as I smiled quickly, jumping into the lift before the doors closed. I just managed to catch another glimpse at her before doors shut between us. She was smiling back at me.
Xoxo
"Agent London, I gather nobody's ever taught you how to knock?" the Head of MI9 said as I burst into her office.
"Sorry ma'am," I started.
"I gather you have news on your team," she said, not really listening to my apology.
"Yes, they're safe and heading back to St Hearts. Stel- Chief Agent Knight is meeting them there and they don't seem to have Rose's twin with them," I said as the Head of MI9 sucked the air through her teeth.
"Have the SWAT team gone?" she asked after a moment.
"No ma'am, not yet," I replied.
"I'll send them off myself. We know the location now and with your agents out of the way we can attack without fear of hurting the opposite side," she said as I nodded, itching to get back to my team. The Head of MI9 was quicker than I thought though, picking up on it straight away. "Go, Agent London, I know you care for your team," she said as I smiled a small thank you, turning. "I want them here though London," she stopped me. "As soon as they're rested, I want an explanation. And find the twin as soon as you can. I was him no where near Agent Gupta," she finished, deadly serious.
"Ma'am..." I said. It wasn't fair, Rose had been through so much to get separated from her bother now.
"Go Agent London," she said leaving no room for arguments. I once again nodded and left.
Now to get back to St Hearts...
Now that was amazing wasn't it? I thought so :) Next chapter will probably be about Frank meeting the other, Jake has problems because no one can back up the story he told Rose. Etc... And yet again, thanks to everyone ho read, review, favourite/follow me and the story. It means so much to me. I think that you should read Windgirl's other story, Struck down. That is amazing! That was all I wanted to say for now, see you all next time!